Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Trade What You See, Not What You Think -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: h.g. who wrote (371)	1/29/2001 5:14:51 PM
From: Threei	Respond to of 867

This is very true. I know from my own experience and from what I hear from others that old problem returning "all of a sudden" is rather common occurrence. 'Reminiscenes..." also contain examples of trader doing things he learned not to do. Yhank you, great analysis! Vadym

To: h.g. who wrote (371)	1/29/2001 8:40:04 PM
From: Moving Sphere	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 867

h.g., >>"If you've been successful and never had problems, more power to you, but generally, the underlying signal shows up every now and then.<< Excellent analogy. To use the viewpoint of disciplined ego and the regular ego, I would say that our regular ego is the underlying signal and the disciplined ego is the new signal. For trading purpose, we will strive to lean on the side of the disciplined ego, knowing full well that our regular ego is simply right "next door". Our objective is to train our disciplined ego (or thought) so as to minimize the influence of our regular ego. But as you said, it is nearly impossible to achieve this level at all times. IMHO, as long as we are alive, we will never be able to rid our regular ego. We may strive to have our disciplined ego dominate more of our life than our regular ego, however. But there is a caveat. In trading, while our disciplined ego may help us achieve success; success itself may pierce the veil of our disciplined ego. Success in trading can breed over-confidence. And over-confidence (aka greed) is very much a part of our regular ego. Thus, when we become successful, our disciplined ego may have a hard time dealing with our over-confidence. While our regular ego can be paralyzed by fear, it can also be paralyzed by over-confidence. Once paralyzed, the domination of our regular ego is completed. From this point on, our trading will suffer. For our regular ego uses our emotion as its guidance for trading. Therefore, we are faced with two monsters from our regular ego- fear and greed (or over-confidence). Fear tends to attack us more often in the beginning of our quest. So, we strive to train our disciplined ego to help our trading journey. And when we finally achieved success, greed (or over-confidence) attacks us. Hopefully, there will be a point when our disciplined ego regains its footing before we go over the cliff. Personally, I've gone from fear to success, then from success to greed. Fortunately, my greed was greeted by a slap on the face by the market before I went over to the cliff. After experiencing a close call from falling off the cliff, fear came back and the cycle repeated itself again. And with each cycle, I got better as handling my greed. But there is no telling when it will get better of me one of these day. "knock on wood..." I have read stories on some big hitters who went from poor to super-rich and then back to poor. Jesse Livermore, the famous trader from the book "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" is one example. I read about another commodity trader who went thru the same cycle but I couldn't remember his name. This only confirm your point that the underlying signal (or regular ego) will always be there lurking around the corner waiting for an opening. Fear and Greed are two popular openings to the heart of our disciplined ego. "sigh..." So, what do we have here? IMHO, I guess that mean our quest for a more disciplined ego is a never-ending journey as long as we trade. Good luck to all! Btw; for those very few who achieved the level of "very little ego" by way of years of meditation (as in the mountain cave, etc.), you won't be thinking about trading anymore when you get there. You will be in a different level of consciousness altogether. So, as long as we dedicate ourselves to be a trader, we will have to learn to deal with our ego- preferably the disciplined one. :-) Cheers!